quick vietnamese & indian-spiced chicken

this is my first opportunity to talk about eating out. it only took a week. jennifer didn't have to work yesterday on president's day, so we took the opportunity to see a matinee of 'there will be blood.' excellent acting, by the way. afterward we grabbed a quick late-afternoon snack at Pho Pasteur in chinatown. we made up our minds quickly (shrimp spring rolls and seafood rice noodle soup) and waited longer than i'd expect to place our order, considering only four other people were seated. but the food came quickly, along with a plate of sprouts, basil, and some other add-ons. the spring rolls were fresh and tasty with a light dunk in the peanut-soy dipping sauce. and the soup was better than i thought it would be - lightly spicy, not too brothy, and the noodles were firm and fresh, too. in all, a good snack.

dinner was a dish we saw on "good deal with dave lieberman" - we've kinda been hooked on the food network since football season ended. he had an episode all about home-made take-out, and the indian spiced chicken looked yummy. we both love indian but haven't heard the best news about the local indian restaurant. so we decided to make it ourselves. cubed chicken breast marinates in a thick yogurt marinade spiced with curry, coriander, paprika, red chili flakes, fresh ginger and garlic, cardamom pods, honey, salt and pepper. we substituted ground cardamom. it sits in the fridge for an hour. meanwhile sweat some diced onions, add a little tomato paste, and 2 cups half-and-half. add the chicken and marinade and cook until the meat is not pink but tender. serve over rice.

ok, so, it was a good meal and a very good first try at indian. 2 cups half-and-half is about 3/4 cups too much. or 1/2 cup too much. the dish was too soupy and cooking longer to let the moisture steam off would over-cook the chicken. the spice mixture was tasty too. we didn't know the ground equivalent of 8 cardamom pods so i added 1 1/2 tsp. that may have been 1/2 tsp too much.

surprisingly, the house doesn't smell like indian, which is a good thing. the clothes i cooked in do, but that's fine. in the laundry they go. and my fingertips are only slightly yellow from washing the pots.

you have no excuse to not cook indian. give it a try.